Working Paper Series

These papers are vehicles for initiating, encouraging or nurturing professional discussion and debate concerning the application of land warfare concepts and capabilities to the security of Australia and its interests. Working papers are generally not large and, by their nature, are not intended to be definitive.

Like other Western military forces, the ADF has used deployments since Vietnam to develop appropriate mechanisms to support media access to its operations. The ADF’s advances in this regard, like those of the US and UK, are almost solely linked to political and strategic direction issued on the cusp of operational deployments requiring last-minute adjustments to policy, procedures and processes...

Periodically the US military is host to a robust, heated, and sometimes painful debate on the future character of war. By contrast, the most striking thing about debate within the Australian Army is its near total absence. The Army, it appears, is unable or unwilling to debate openly about either its own future or the future of war. For an organisation that prides itself on its professionalism,...

In this paper, Brigadier Field examines the role of the 9th Australian Division in Operation Cartwheel which involved the capture of the Japanese Base at Lae. He uses this division’s expeditionary operations and amphibious manoeuvre as the basis for analysis of the seven tenets of manoeuvre described in current Land Warfare Doctrine. The result highlights the challenges inherent to expeditionar...

In a 2007 presentation to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), General John Abizaid, former commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and commander of coalition forces in Iraq, stated that Iraqi insurgents were threatening the humanitarian ‘neutral space'. He indicated that insurgents and terrorists were increasingly targeting humanitarian aid workers in an attempt t...

In an era of increasing focus upon concepts such as hybrid warfare, insurgency and ‘low intensity conflict', asymmetry is often seen as a means employed by conventionally weak actors against traditional military powers. This presumption is challenged by the author in this paper.

Insurgency is a form of warfare as old as warfare itself, and it has gone by many names in the past: guerrilla warfare, partisan warfare, revolutionary warfare, insurrectionary warfare, irregular warfare, unconventional warfare, peoples’ war and terrorism. All have been—and are—used to describe the same broad phenomenon, though they do not all have the exact same meaning and have not necessaril...

Successfully conducting an offensive action remains as much the ‘gold standard' for military commanders today as it was in the days of Napoleon, Frederick or Caesar. However, how commanders actually do it has changed as dramatically as society and technology has. How to conduct offensive action successfully in today's unique technological and tactical circumstances is the focus of this working...

This paper examines two powerful motivators in US defence policy: the pursuit of network-centric warfare and the imperatives of counterinsurgency. It explores the often noted points of incompatibility between the two, before arguing that a more productive way of understanding their interaction is to examine the ways in which the two are being hybridised in practice in the testing ground of Oper...

Western militaries are moving too slowly to adapt to the needs of future warfighting. The reality of nuclear weapons and the United States hegemony have prescribed the options for current and potential adversaries, leaving them with few viable approaches. One such is ‘complex irregular warfare', a type of war that deliberately uses an asymmetrical approach in an attempt to dislocate Western str...

The paper addresses an emerging awareness of counterinsurgency in the Australian context. This work also is cautionary; arguing that the Army and the wider Australian Defence Force (ADF) needs more careful thought on doctrine, appropriate training and associated operational ability. Reflecting on the Australian Army's heritage in the realm of counterinsurgency, it looks at emerging trends in th...

Fratricide is an ever-present problem, and its effects are devastating and widespread. Like a tsunami, fratricide's influence spreads from the epicentre to engulf the victim's family and friends, the military, the broader public and the Government. At each level, the damage takes on a different form, but as the effect widens it leaves a trail of grief, trauma and eroded confidence.

How can a large organisation, deeply rooted in tradition, order, and control, purposefully embrace change? Add to this eternal test the complexity of rapidly evolving technology and the challenges compound. The ability of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to master the technologies associated with network-centric warfare (NCW) will largely shape its destiny. The implementation of NCW cuts deep...

During the Vietnam War (1959–75), the euphemistic term ‘friendly fire’ was first used to describe the infliction of casualties by the military’s own forces. This paper explores this phenomenon by focusing on the Australian Army’s decade-long involvement in Vietnam (1962–72). When examined historically, evidence suggests that the problem of fratricide was more prevalent than is usually acknowled...

This paper is a study of the recent transformation in the employment and structure of Special Operations Forces. The author argues that these forces have moved from a marginal, albeit important, part of traditional conventional strategy towards being a central component of any government warfighting or national security response. Their transformation may be seen in the context of the missions t...

The paper A Model Pacific Solution? A Study of the Deployment of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands examines the early stages of the multinational deployment of police, military and other personnel to Solomon Islands. The ongoing deployment is led by the police, with the military in close support. The paper addresses the legal and operational consequences of brining tog...

Network-centric warfare (NCW) is becoming the dominant logic of current and future military operations. Network-enabling technologies bring with them a dramatic increase in the quantity of information, the need for constant interaction and a demand for greater organisational transparency. These network characteristics will raise important questions about the cultural assumptions held by the Aus...

Over the past 100 years, the manner in which the infantry battalion is employed has undergone revolutionary change— something that is not always appreciated by those who regard the infantry as the unskilled labour force of the battlefield. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. This paper discusses the implications of the transition from relatively unskilled mass industrial-age infan...

This paper reviews the prospect for the establishment of a robust multilateral security mechanism in the Asia-Pacific. It considers two types of security mechanisms: one broadly inclusive and one based on existing bilateral alliances with the United States. The paper makes the assessment that neither form of multilateral security mechanism in the Asia-Pacific is likely at this time. In the abse...

This working paper analyses the continuing importance of combined arms warfare in modern armed conflict. The paper consists of three edited essays: a conceptual introduction to the theory of combined arms combat; a case study of combined arms warfare based on the Australian Army's experience in Vietnam; and a concluding essay with historical and contemporary insights on the continuing relevance...

Australia's commitment to the War on Terrorism exposes a conundrum that lies at the heart of Australian defence preparedness. In a world dominated by the United States as the global superpower, how can Australia use its defence forces to pursue national interests while gaining the strategic benefits that accrue from being a close partner of the United States? Events since 11 September 2001 have...

When members of the Australian Defence Force deployed in September 1999 as part of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET), East Timor was an information vacuum. Information networks within East Timor itself were practically non-existent, and the only news service was provided entirely by the international media. This news vacuum presented a unique opportunity for the INTERFET forces and...

This working paper proposes a concept for the Australian Army's Groundbased Aerospace Defence (GBAeD) system of 2030. GBAeD 2030 is part of a balanced joint force, and an integral element of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) air-defence system. It will be able to operate autonomously or as part of a coalition force. GBAeD 2030 will be important to achieving the future military roles, and have...

Strategists today are grappling with asymmetric warfare, collateral effects of past actions and the complexity of military operations in the Information Era, where outcomes may be influenced as much by what people think as by the application of conventional military force. Yet questions over how best to apply military force in this age of instant access to information have been generating debat...

During the 20th century, joint operations—and particularly amphibious operations—have played an important role in the defence of Australia. This paper is a survey of the major joint operations undertaken by Australian Forces in the past one hundred years and aims to examine key factors such as the changing mechanisms for joint operations, doctrine and equipment.

Land commanders are increasingly dependent on information-age systems comprising communications and information systems, networks and sensors. While these systems have the potential to produce significant changes in the conduct and character of war, their reliance on the electromagnetic spectrum also has the potential to increase their vulnerability to interdiction by electronic-warfare systems...

This paper examines the way in which Australia has responded to the post–Cold War concept of a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). It argues that, between 1994 and the present, Australian thinking about an information-age military revolution has gone through two distinct phases: a period of informal debate and a period of institutional theorising. The informal phase of Australian RMA thinking...

This working paper argues that the skills of historical analysis are an essential element of military decision-making. It suggests that military decision-making is shaped by temporal circumstances and that consequently historical awareness must be seen as one of the key attributes of an effective officer. Historical knowledge and methodology have a key role to play in military operations. Not o...

This paper examines the place of the Army in the making of Australian strategy in the 20th century. It argues that, over the past one hundred years, Australian peacetime strategic planning has been characterised by a schism between the requirements of local territorial defence and the needs of security defined on the basis of upholding vital international and overseas interests. The major conse...

In future land warfare, support for command and control requires the development of a single logical network that provides connectivity between any two points in the battlespace, and between any point in the battlespace and any point in the strategic communications system. This Tactical Communications System must be an organic asset that provides at least the minimum essential voice and data co...

This paper investigates two phenomena: first, the conceptual broadening of the term ‘security' and the implications of this broadening for the contemporary meaning of ‘national security'; and, second, the implications of this process for the armed forces of advanced countries, whose tasks have also broadened from their Cold War focus on warfighting.The changing theoretical meaning of security h...

This study examines the relationship between the 1915 Gallipoli campaign and the military revolution of World War I. The paper seeks to focus on what can be learnt from the military expedition rather than concentrating on its legendary aspects. The study evaluates the strategic concept behind Gallipoli, provides a sketch of the events of the campaign, and then analyses the context and enduring...

Success on the battlefield depends to a large extent on the timely receipt of accurate information presented in a format that can be digested readily by the commander and staff to allow them to prepare appropriate plans. The receipt of sensor data, information processing and communication of orders all require the provision of suitable tactical communications systems providing high-speed data n...

In spite of the international condemnation and remedial efforts after the May 1998 Indo-Pakistan nuclear tests, the situation in South Asia has subsequently been an action-reaction of missile race, local war, full-fledged nuclear weapon program and coup d'etat. International arms control regimes such as the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban T...

The Australian Army recognises that organisations that excel in the future will be those that discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels. The aim of this paper is to discuss theconcept of professional mastery and its application to the Army-After-Next and to leadership development for the Australian Army.

This paper analyses the implications of the concepts derived from the US Army's Army-After-Next (AAN) Project for the Australian Army. The paper is designed as an overview; it is a snapshot of ideas arising from the revolution in military affairs (RMA) and a speculative insight into the future strategic environment, rather than a detailed assessment or exhaustive examination of the AAN Project...

This paper analyses the relevance of deterrence theory based on conventional forces to Australian military strategy. It argues that a majority of Australian strategists did not favour conventional deterrence as an explicit strategic posture during the Cold War since it was seen as an outcome, rather than a starting point, of successful defence planning. In the post-Cold War era, conventional de...

This paper considers Strike as a strategic and operational-level technique from two perspectives: historical and theoretical. The historical perspective shows a long record of the land and maritime forms of Strike. The advent of the aeroplane opened new options for strategic strike, but changes in technology and the nature of the state also provided new opportunities for surface forces. Strike...

This paper examines the role of the Australian Army in a maritime concept of strategy. It does so against the background of new trends in post-Cold War international security and, in light of the publication in 1997 of Australia's Strategic Policy (ASP 97) and Restructuring the Australian Army (RTA).